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The troubled banking division of Misys suffered another blow on Thursday when it emerged that the new chief executive of the unit was stepping down after just one month in the job.

The healthcare and banking software company said Steve Vaughan had left because of “material differences” over the future direction of the banking business.

Mr Vaughan had stepped into the role on March 20, replacing Ivan Martin, who left in December, just a few months after a shock profits warning from the banking unit.

Analysts on Thursday said Mr Vaughan’s departure was a serious blow to Misys, and raised doubts about the company’s willingness to carry out badly-needed reforms to its business model and corporate structure.

Kevin Lomax, founder and chief executive, was forced to lessen his hold over the company in the face of shareholder anger last autumn, letting go of his dual role as both chairman and chief executive.

The company also announced plans to restructure the banking business, focusing on core operations such as retail and wholesale banking. Misys’ software development had fallen behind that of its peers, and the company is now racing to catch up.

The arrival of Mr Vaughan a month ago was seen as a further step forward, given his strong turn-around track record at Synstar, the IT services company, where he was formerly chief executive. Mr Vaughan was able to return the struggling Synstar to profitability, and presided over the £163m sale of the company to Hewlett Packard in 2004.

Analysts said on Thursday that Mr Vaughan – known for his ability to take radical action – may not have been given enough room to make the changes he wanted at Misys.

“For a company that is trying to portray willingness to change, this shows that there is still a very paternalistic culture at Misys, which does not leave a lot of room for fresh thinking,” said Kevin Ashton, analyst at Bridgewell.

Mr Lomax will take the reins at the banking division until a replacement for Mr Vaughan can be found.

Misys said Mr Vaughan would not receive any additional compensation on leaving on top of his salary for one month.

Shares in Misys, which have lost nearly 20 per cent of their value since January, were down just over 1 per cent at 215p on Thursday.